Not Alright, But Getting Better
by Cissa The Bookworm
Summary: Instead of Matt leaving Vladimir to die in the sewers at the hands of Fisk's men, he stays and finds his soulmate. The two survive, but at terrible emotional costs. Or in other words: A quick soulmate fic with an appearance of Foggy at the end because I need Matt and Foggy to have a good friendship... Warning: Contains rape


"I think I stay." Vladimir calmly tells Matt as he shoulders the gun.

"There is still time for both of us to get out of here." Matt counters, grimacing at the stubborn Russian.

Vladimir shrugs, despite the pain it caused him, "Your name is Matthew and your wrist bears my name in my hand. I think I stay. Is even more reason to stay."

"No." Matt chokes out, "It's even more reason for you to come with me. "

"Me?" Vladimir scoffs, "Will be dead before daybreak. Better to go down fighting."

Matt desperately flings himself towards the other man, "Please come with me."

Vladimir gently takes Matt's arm in his hands, pushes up the sleeve on the arm that bears the mark, and looks at his writing. "Knew as soon as I saw edge of mark you were mine. First time we fought."

"Why didn't you say?" Matt asks, a few tears trickling down his cheeks.

"Were too good for me." Vladimir dismisses himself, "Always knew you would be." Vladimir brings Matt's arm up to his lips and places a tiny kiss onto the center of the mark. "Better without me in your life."

"But I would be better if you came with me." Matt counters once more.

"May I see your face, once before my death?"

Matt rips off his mask and Vladimir drinks in the sight like the dying man he was. "More gorgeous than I hoped."

"Please come with me." Matt sniffles, tears starting to flow faster.

"Why do you care about criminal like me?"

"Because you're my soulmate and you're supposed to complete me like no other person can. I've been waiting my entire life for you."

"Then I am sorry you wasted time." Vladimir apologizes.

Suddenly rattling breaks the moment between the two as men pour out of the service tunnel. Vladimir places himself in front of Matt, shielding him with his own body. The men sneer at Vladimir and the man behind him. "Oh look!" One man laughs, "The Russian's bitch came crawling to him at the first sign of danger!"

"He's sure a looker, despite the eyes." Another leered at Matt, causing him to lean further into Vladimir's back.

Vladimir bears his teeth, "You do not touch him!"

One of the men scoff and another pretends to quiver in fear, "I'm shaking in my boots!"

"We could leave them. He'll be dead within an hour and his little bitch is blind."

"No hope of getting out of this in grief and on his own." A second adds, agreement thick in his words.

"Nah, I want to have fun with his little bitch in front of his soulmate, then we can leave them here to die in the filth, right where they belong." The first man sneers, motioning for his cronies to pull the soulmates apart.

Matt struggles and attempts to fight them off, but several men overpower him, flinging him down and knocking his head against the ground to disorient him. Vladimir yells and bellows, struggling against the men holding him. Yelling curses and threatening death, Vladimir wears himself down, fury still high but bodily power low.

Several minutes pass and several men have their way with Matt, Vladimir looking on in horror at his spitfire soulmate beaten down, disoriented and raped by the men that were supposed to protect the city. Finally the last man was finished, zipping his pants. One of the men, taking pity on the soulmates, throws Matt onto Vladimir's lap, weak and limp from his treatment. Vladimir sneers at the men as they leave, laughing at the pair and joking about how great the 'Russian bitch' was.

Vladimir swears vengeance as he struggles upwards, dragging Matt into his arms, no matter how painful the motion was on his body. Somehow the pair find themselves back in Matt's apartment and Vladimir manages to get Claire to come over to patch them both up. Several times she almost leaves: when she hears Vladimir's voice on the phone, when he answers the door, when he spits a curse out a few too many times while she makes her neat stitches. It wasn't until Vladimir finally bears his mark to her that she stays and finishes patching the pair up. "Only because I'm fond of him." Claire sternly tells the Russian. "I still hate everything about you."

"So long as you keep him alive." Vladimir replies, sleep threatening to take over.

"You should sleep now, it will help you heal faster." Claire gently tells the Russian man, "Better for you to protect him."

Vladimir grumpily falls into slumber, lulled to sleep by the steady breathing of his mate. Claire steals one last look at the sleeping pair before leaving Matt's apartment.

A steady pounding at the door brings Matt and Vladimir into an immediate state of wakefulness. Foggy eventually lets himself in and is shocked to find another man in Matt's apartment. Foggy takes in the state that they are both in and slumps against the wall, "I have a feeling that this is a long story."

Matt nods, "Pretty long."

"I'll tell Karen that we aren't coming into the office today."

"That would be best." Matt agrees, fitting himself closer into Vladimir's side, soaking up the warmth that his soulmate emitted like a sun.

Vladimir made a still sleepy sound of agreement to Matt's cuddling, content to have his soulmate near him and relaxed by the non-threat standing in front of him, easily taken down even in his beaten state. Vladimir wraps his arms further around Matt, causing the man in question to slump back into the embrace. "Thank you." Matt mutters just loud enough for Vladimir to hear.

"No need to thank me." Vladimir bitterly states, "Not when I could not protect you from those men."

"Vladimir…"

"Matvey, please." Vladimir pleads, "Do not tell me otherwise. Is my fault, what happened to you."

"It's Fisk's." Matt spits out. "Everything is his fault."

Vladimir agrees, at least, to that. "He will pay for all that he has done. To me and to you. Anatoly would have liked you."

Before Matt could question any further, Foggy appears from the entrance hall. "So Karen knows to take the day off. Now get to talking, Matt."

Matt flinches even further into Vladimir's side at Foggy's harsh tone. Foggy's eyes widen at the action and he immediately softens, slumping down onto the floor, eyes cemented onto the pair. Vladimir strokes Matt's side, despite the pain it brings his wound. "I-I'm Daredevil." Matt hesitantly tells his friend.

Foggy sucks in a shocked breath, "I can somehow see that." Foggy faintly replies, "You would be that hairbrained."

Matt gives his friend a weak grin, "Yeah." Matt continues to tell Foggy everything and at the end of his explanations, the other lawyer gets up from his uncomfortable spot on the floor. Matt flinches slightly as his friend approaches, but is eager to lean into the hug that Foggy envelops him into. "So we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good buddy." Foggy agrees, "Just let me into what you're thinking once in awhile, huh?"

"Of course." Matt easily agrees.

"And you-" Foggy turns to glare at the Russian, "-you better take good care of him or I will find a way to hurt you."

Vladimir narrows his eyes at the lawyer, but finally nods his head in agreement, "Da, I will."

"Good." Foggy firmly states, "Now you two are going to continue to spoon while I go make us all something to eat. And no complaining."

"You're a good friend, Foggy." Matt smiles.

"Of course I am." Foggy smugly replies, "I'm glad you can tell that through your thick headedness. Now shut up and spoon with your hot, Russian, criminal boyfriend."

Matt's laugh follows Foggy into the kitchen where he prepares to make a meal for his stupid friend and his seemingly stupid soulmate. "We'll be alright? You'll stay with me?"

"Da, I would not think to leave now." Vladimir replies without hesitation. "Will find some job."

"Something that's legal?" Matt raises an eyebrow.

Vladimir snorts, "Would think to choose nothing else. Will satisfy you, da?"

"It would." Matt agrees, "And how about us?"

Vladimir sounds certain as he replies, "We are both strong. We will make it through this."

"I'm not alright." Matt quietly confesses into Vladimir's side.

"Would not expect you to be after what happened." Vladimir honestly replies. "Wish I could give back to them what they gave." Vladimir growls, disturbing Matt's perch on his soulmate.

Matt sighs, "Fight when you're well."

"Alright." He reluctantly replies, "Only when you are well."

"That's not what I said."

"Shut up." Vladimir mulishly replies, "Meant what I said."

Matt huffs out a weak laugh, "Fine."

"But you _will_ get better." Vladimir firmly states, "Because you are strong. Fighter. And you have me by your side."

"That sounds awfully sappy." Matt weakly teases.

Vladimir shrugs, "Is true. We are not alright, but we are getting better."

"Amen to that." Foggy says as he walks back into the living room bearing a tray full of food for the three of them. "Now eat. Only way to get better." Foggy and Vladimir both glow when they hear the genuine laugh that Matt gives.


End file.
